High School Wrestling: La Salle rolls by Archbishop Wood

SPRINGFIELD — There was no mistaking the man in the designer suit coaching wrestling at La Salle High Thursday night.

Hall of Fame wrestling coach Vic Stanley, who has retired from the sport he loves more times than six professional boxers, is back doing what he does best.

Only these days Stanley is shouting instructions to a team wearing the black and gold of Archbishop Wood.

The 72-year-old Stanley, who retired from coaching in 2011 following six seasons at La Salle, was back in familiar territory Thursday, and he was also among friends, including a who’s-who of La Salle wrestlers from the past decade.

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Turn left and there was Casey Kent, turn right and there was Matt Cimato, or C.J. Burns or Ryan Geiger.

And in the middle was Stanley, looking much the same as he did when he was at La Salle (with the exception of letting hair grow on his once-shaven-bald head), his smile growing wider with each familiar face that greeted him.

“How can I leave coaching?” Stanley asked, moments after his young Vikings were handled easily by the host Explorers, 64-9. “Look around, I’ve coached all these kids, and seeing them again is awesome.

“What am I going to do, sit in a chair at home and watch TV?”

When Stanley left La Salle after his last retirement, he said he would never return. Suffering from the nerve condition peripheral neuropathy, Stanley was passing out, feeling poorly and physically unable to handle the coaching grind.

And following that 2011 season, when Archbishop Wood, a place he had coached previously, contacted Stanley and asked if he was interested in coaching again, Stanley said no.

“Another year went by,” Stanley said, “and Wood contacted me again and asked if wouldn’t mind looking at some film for them.

“I said sure, so I got on HUDL (an internet video service specializing in game footage), watched Wood’s matches and critiqued them.”

With his health improved and his batteries recharged, the next time Wood asked about coaching, the answer was yes. He interviewed and was hired.

And now he is back where it seems he was meant to be.

“I missed it,” he said. “My health was good, my business (selling football and baseball cards) was great. And I love it.

“My interest was piqued watching those films. So I’m at school every day my noon, and I’m happy to be there.”

And upon his return, the Explorers were happy to have him.

“We welcomed him with open arms,” said Explorers head coach Richie Gebauer. “I don’t know if our freshmen and sophomores can fully appreciate what he did for the program, but I know a lot of our guys were helped by him and happy to see him again.”

Gebauer added that he downplayed Stanley’s return while the Explorers prepped for the match.

“We tried not to focus on it too much,” the coach explained. “We tried to look at it like any other match.”

The Explorers wrestlers agreed

“We tried not to treat it any differently,” said junior upper weight Antonio Pelusi. “I had Coach Stanley for a year here and he is a real good coach.

“But we think we have good coaching here now, too.”

There’s the belief that Stanley, much like he did at La Salle, will propel the Vikings back to the top of Philadelphia Catholic League.